


I Am The Leopard

by pallasite



Series: Behind the Gloves [96]
Category: Babylon 5, Babylon 5 & Related Fandoms
Genre: Autobiographical Elements, Backstory, Bigotry & Prejudice, Business Division, Canon Compliant, Fix-It, Gen, POV Female Character, Psi Cops, Psi Corps, Slice of Life, Verbal Self-Defense, Worldbuilding, telepaths
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-18
Updated: 2018-03-18
Packaged: 2019-04-04 02:09:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14009889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pallasite/pseuds/pallasite
Summary: A telepath steps into an elevator.What do you think happens?What always happens.The prologue ofBehind the Glovesishere- please read!





	I Am The Leopard

**Author's Note:**

> What is this series? Where are the acknowledgements, table of contents and universe timelines? See [here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/10184558/chapters/22620590).
> 
> If you like _Behind the Gloves_ and would like to send me an email, I can be reached at counterintuitive at protonmail dot com. Do you have questions? Would you like to tell me what you like about this project? Email me!
> 
> I also have an [ask blog](https://behind-the-gloves.tumblr.com/), a [writing blog](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/pallasite-writes), and a "P3 life" Tumblr [here](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/p3-life) with funny anecdotes. :)

A telepath steps into an elevator.

It doesn't matter if she's going up two floors, or fifteen. It doesn't matter where she is, who she is, or what she's doing there.

A telepath steps into an elevator, with normals.

It's always the same.

For the first few seconds, they haven't noticed her yet. But someone always does, right about the time the doors close, trapping her in.

The first person to spot her sounds the alarm, "warning" the others of her presence.

"Look, Psi Corps!" he might yell. Or perhaps, "Look, a telepath!"

"Everyone watch your thoughts!" he shouts next, as if she cares about anyone in the elevator. She only wants the same thing as them - to get to her floor in peace - but that means little.

She is a telepath.

She can tell them she doesn't want any trouble, but it won't work. She can tell them Psi Corps regulations prohibit her to scan them, but they won't care. She can beg and plead, but she will only make a fool of herself.

"I don't want you touching me," someone might say, recoiling from her in disgust.

"Stay out of my head!" someone might spit at her, angry, defensive, fearful, as if she has hurt him simply by having the audacity to take the same elevator.

She needs another strategy.

She decides she is a leopard.

She can't think like a business telepath anymore - they'll step all over her. She needs to work among them, and they won't ever go away.

She needs to think like a Psi Cop.

If she were a Psi Cop, she knows, she would never have to take their shit. She could step into any elevator she wanted, and they could say anything they wanted, and they would only look like the pathetic fools they are.

She imagines she's a Psi Cop, and she's showing a new intern the ropes. He's been raised in the Corps - he's shocked at the normals' rudeness.

In her fantasy, everything begins the same way it always does. "Look, it's Psi Corps!" some man shouts, from the back of the elevator. "Everyone watch your thoughts!"

She sends her intern an image - the two of them are leopards, and the normals are monkeys. High up in the trees, they are shrieking their alarm calls: [PREDATOR! THERE'S A PREDATOR AMONG US!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-bxPLFt1vI)

She's no longer surrounded by terrified bigots who hate and fear her very existence, who could turn violent any moment - she's surrounded by a troop of monkeys.

She's no longer a business telepath, cornered and trapped in an elevator - she's a leopard, king of the jungle.

"Alarm calls are common among primates," she says to her intern, aloud, for all the normals to hear. "Especially among the lesser evolved species. They alert the others when they spot a predator in their midst. If you're very quiet, you can observe some right here, in their natural habitat."

In her fantasy, she shoots the closest normal a look that says, _don't you dare_.

He backs off.

And she and the intern step off at their floor.

Alive.


End file.
